Office Administration

General office clerks do a little bit of everything, including typing, filing, and acting as a receptionist, answering the phone, and greeting visitors. An office clerk’s job is to make sure that the day-to-day operations of an office run smoothly.

This course intends to give clerks an overview of all the tasks involved in their job. It is based on the following unit standards:

Unit Std No.
Unit Std Title
NQF Level
Credits

13934

14340

13937

Plan and prepare meeting communications

Maintain an existing information system in a business environment

Monitor and control office supplies

3

2

3

4

4

2

Delegates will be able to:

    • Demonstrate an understanding of the agenda of meetings
    • Explain the purpose and objective of minutes of meetings
    • Take minutes of meetings
    • Store and retrieve information using an established storage system
    • File paper-based or electronic documentation or books, magazines and other reference material
    • Book items in and out of the system and trace missing items
    • Classify and cross-reference simple information
    • Understand the significance of maintaining confidentiality
    • Monitor office supplies levels
    • Maintain office supplies processes and procedures
    • Monitor and control the distribution of office supplies

Duration: 2 days

Assessment guides exist for this skills programme. Candidates that want to receive formal recognition by SAQA would have to complete the assignments in the assessment guide.

Course Content

Chapter 1 Meetings

    • Rules and purpose of meetings
    • Purpose of an Agenda
    • Purpose and objective of minutes of meetings
    • Writing minutes of a meeting


Chapter 2 Information management at the office

    1. Storing and retrieving information
      • Classifying, sorting, and recording a paper based documentation to established requirements
      • Classifying and cross-referencing information accurately
      • Sourcing and gathering filing documentation
    2. Filing paper-based or electronic documentation
      • Locating, obtaining, copying and dispatching required information to the correct person or location
      • Communicating delays in the supply of information
      • Identifying missing or overdue items and following correct procedures to locate them
    3. Storing valuable documentation and referencing materials securely
      • Identifying and correcting security risks within own area of authority
      • Recognising and reporting violations of security following the familiar and established procedures
    4. Understanding the significance of maintaining confidentiality

Chapter 3 Monitor and control office supplies

    1. Monitoring office supplies levels
      • Identifying and recording office supplies levels
      • Ascertaining and comparing office supply levels to required levels
      • Checking records for compliance with organisational requirements.
      • Taking remedial action to rectify office supply levels.
    2. Maintaining office supplies processes and procedures
      • Monitoring and evaluating office supply processes and procedures
      • Identifying and highlighting out-of-line situations
      • Taking remedial action to bring office supply processes and procedures back in line.
      • Identifying areas for improvement
    3. Monitoring and controlling the distribution of office supplies
      • Identifying, setting and communicating distribution procedures
      • Receiving and recording office supply requests
      • Distributing office supplies within agreed timeframes.
      • Identifying and highlighting areas of non-conformance
      • Taking remedial action to rectify office supply distribution processes and procedures